Packers Wary of Lions’ Extensive History of Fake Punts

As the Packers learned last year, the Lions will run a fake punt in any situation and at any place on the field. Green Bay had better be ready on Sunday.

Lions punter Jack Fox throws a pass on a fake punt against the Packers on Jan. 9, 2022, at Ford Field. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With about 8 minutes left in the second quarter of the Detroit Lions’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2, the Lions faced a fourth-and-12 from their 20-yard line.

Of course, coach Dan Campbell sent on the punt team.

To run a fake.

Punter Jack Fox’s 17-yard completion moved the chains. While the Lions ultimately punted the ball later in the drive, that play serves as a reminder that Detroit will run a fake on special teams at any time and in any situation.

Not that Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia needed much reminding.

When the Packers beat the Lions 29-22 last season in Ford Field, the Lions ran a fake on fourth-and-4 from their 23 midway through the third quarter. Lukan Van Ness and Karl Brooks stuffed the direct snap to personal protector Jalen Reeves-Maybin. Moments later, the Packers were in the end zone with a 29-14 lead.

Bisaccia and his counterpart, Detroit’s Dave Fipp, have been squaring off since 2013.

“So, we have a pretty good catalogue of each other’s work,” Bisaccia said. He spent the week looking at a decade of fakes.

Fipp has been the Lions’ special teams coordinator since 2021. They are 9-of-12 on fake punts, with five conversions through the air (Fox has four and Reeves-Maybin has the other) and four on the ground.

In the 2021 finale in Detroit, when the Lions beat the Packers 37-30, Fox threw incomplete on fourth-and-13.

“I think the distance for the first down is mindful in your calls, anyway, regardless of where you are on the field,” Bisaccia said. “Playing against this team who’s had some fakes backed up inside the 20, inside the 25, it kind of gets your antennas up a little bit more.

“They had a big fake against Tampa backed up inside the 25. So, we’ll play a certain front that helps us, hopefully, to some degree discourage them maybe, but we’ve got to be prepared for it as we go through the game.”

Just like a defense plays the run on the way to the quarterback when facing a pass-happy offense, Bisaccia said his punt-return unit will “play the fake on the way to the punter” on Sunday.

The issue for the Packers is preparing for Fipp’s extensive bag of tricks takes time away from preparing for other things. There’s only so much time during the workday, and it’s not as if coach Matt LaFleur can peel some time away from the offense and defense periods considering the Lions’ power in those phases.

“Matt’s great about the time and the schedule that we have during the course of the week,” Bisaccia said. “We have multiple walkthroughs throughout the day and, certainly, our practice time, so we have a chance to get it all in.

“It may limit you some of the things you’re going to do against them because of the fakes that they’ve had. A little bit like going into the Arizona game; they were a big fake team in the past, so you got to prepare for that. If you remember last year, they were backed up and ran a fake sweep against us a year ago. They can do it at any time at any place, and the punter throws the ball really well. So, we’re going to work to do the best we can against whatever they’re going to present to us.”

The Lions’ special teams are among the best in the NFL. They destroyed the Titans last week with a punt return for a touchdown, a punt return that set up a touchdown and a kickoff return that set up a touchdown. Fox is No. 1 in the NFL in net punt average and rookie kicker Jake Bates has not missed a field-goal attempt.

Fox was the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 3, Bates won the award in Week 7 and punt returner/receiver Kalif Raymond won it for his work against the Titans.

Campbell gave Fipp a game ball after that game.

“Obviously,” Fipp told reporters in Detroit this week, “that’s an example of, if you go out and do those things, it can change the game real quick. Now, that being said, that game’s over and those things come and go, they happen once in a while but, the bottom line is, you’ve got to play the next game and the next play. …

“The better you get, the harder it gets and the bigger the target gets on your back and the harder it is to win. And so, keeping guys level and understanding, ‘Man, it’s going to take the exact same effort again and nothing will be handed to you in this business,’ is really the trick. And so, I shift back to Green Bay, just saying these guys are as good of a team we’ve played. They’re super-talented, they’re big, they’re physical, they’re tough.”

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It will be a "Sunday soaker," according to @SteveBeylonWBAY, as the #Packers will try to pass and paddle their way past the Lions today.https://t.co/Fyx1LmoIdo

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 3, 2024

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